School officials placed Emily Dickinson in the “no hope” category, so she returned to the Homestead, her family home, to write in seclusion. Editors later refused to publish her originally styled works. Consequently, she was not able to share her gems with the world in her lifetime. After her death, her sister, Lavinia, found nearly 1800 of Emily’s poems. then sought professional help to publish them for the world to enjoy forever.
One question I ponder here is, if a nineteenth-century version of Facebook were around in her lifetime, would she try to participate and try to get her poems published there? Another question is, would she participate on Facebook if she were alive today?
I am handling the easier second question first because if there is a living poet as talented as Emily, she would have to participate on various social media platforms to get recognized. For example, the talented and promising young poet, Amanda Gorman, who recited her poetry at the inauguration of the U.S. President Joseph Biden, currently has 1.2 million followers on Facebook. Perhaps there may be another living poet as talented as Emily Dickinson who refuses to participate in social media. But if so, we will likely never have an opportunity to discover her works in our lifetime.
I will start by focusing on what issues might be involved with Emily’s decision on whether she should participate with a Facebook that we can imagine might have existed in the 19th Century. As an aide for this discussion, I will summarize Emily’s early education and social situation.
Emily’s Education
Dickinson attended Amherst Academy for about 7 years, then spent one year living at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which later became Mount Holyoke College. This year was the longest time period that Emily lived away from her home. The Seminary was one of the most rigorous religious-academic institutions of its kind in that era. She studied chemistry, botany, history, literature, astronomy, Latin, music, philosophy, and logic during her enrollment. She did not like the poetry of Walt Whitman, thinking it was too wordy and abstract. She did enjoy the poetry of the Bronte sisters, and Robert & Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This interest in poetry was likely enhanced when she attended a lecture at Amherst College by admired writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Her father was treasurer of Amherst College for 40 years, and this association gave her access to many top lecturers.
Emily’s Early Social Life
Her extra-curricular hobbies included domestic work, sewing, gardening, and cooking. These courses, along with the strong educational foundation she experienced at Amherst Academy gave her a foundation for the themes that she wrote about in her lifetime: life issues, nature, love, time and eternity. She was also active in social activities and selected community events throughout her early youth and schooling.
Emily’s Religious Dilemma
The first major dilemma for Emily was when the Seminary encouraged the young women to profess faith in Christianity. According to the Emily Dickinson Museum website (emilydickinsonmusem.org), the seminary placed women in three categories: “those who professed faith, those who hoped to have faith, and those who were without hope.” School assessors placed Emily squarely in the “no hope” category. Emily was adamant that she believed in Christ and a Supreme Being but she refused to make the strong public proclamations of faith demanded by her school. This strong position would not be considered as serious today, but in Dickinson’s era, virtually all social, economic, educational, political, and religious life was controlled tightly by a select number of Protestant church leaders and creeds.
School assessors placed Emily squarely in the “no hope” category.
Meeting Susan Gilbert
Another turning point for Dickinson at Holyoke was when she met Susan Gilbert, who became her lifelong close friend and confidante. Gilbert soon married Emily’s brother and the couple moved to a house next door to Emily and her father’s residence. This move allowed Gilbert virtually unfettered access to the otherwise reclusive poet. From several of the letters Emily wrote to Gilbert, it appears that they may have been passionate lovers, or at least, seriously deeply emotionally attached to each other. Regrettably, all of the letters Gilbert wrote back to Emily were destroyed. Although Emily had various male suitors throughout her life, she never committed to marriage.
This move allowed Gilbert virtually unfettered access to the otherwise reclusive poet.
Leaving School and Community Living
Thus, we can see several reasons explaining why when she left Holyoke Seminary in 1848, she found it impossible to re-engage with community life. At age 18, she was out of sorts with the mandates and requirements of the prevalent religious powers: she would not conform to societal expectations to marry and raise a family; she was more highly educated than the typical woman of her community, and she may have been romantically involved with a woman. After this period, she began to withdraw from confronting many of the societal demands she could not reconcile and take shelter in her home by writing poetry.
Problems Publishing her Early Poems
During her early writing period, she did send a number of her poems to noted editors for publication. But the two results she received were outright rejection and attempts to alter her style, themes, and writing structure. As she was in her religious and social convictions, she refused to conform to the expectations of her time – even if non-conformity also resulted in non-recognition.
Would Emily have Participated in !9th Century Facebook?
So the big question is, after all of this rejection, would Emily attempt to join a hypothetical 19th-Century Facebook? I think that, after all of the rejections of her lifestyle, views, and poetry, she might have tried to register for and get her poems published on Facebook. What do you think? Write me in the dialogue box below and I will write you back. Thanks.
Next Litchatte Column – Emily Applies to Register on 19th Century Facebook
In the next Litchatte column, I will consider what Dickinson’s Facebook application might look like and how a 19th-Century Social media site might have reacted to her registration and some of the poems she submitted. Write me to tell me which your favorites are, with a few words saying why.
Consulted: The Life of Emily Dickinson: My Wars Are Laid to Waste by Alfred Habegger, Random House, 2001.
Feature Image – The Homestead – Emily Dickinson Home & Museum – Amherst Massachusetts.
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Murray’s Bi0 AND Salinas, CA Photo
Murray Ellison received a Master’s in English Literature from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Doctorate in Education at Virginia Tech. He is married and has three adult daughters and a granddaughter! He ‘retired’ as the Director of Community Corrections for the Virginia Department of Correctional Education in 2009. His MA thesis, on Edgar Allan Poe and 19th-Century Science, was published in 2015. He founded Litchatte.com in 2016 and is Chief Editor. He is the Outreach Coordinator for the First Mennonite Church of Richmond and also contributes to music there. He is an editor for the International Correctional Education Journal and a Co-Editor of Mystic Verses(2016) by Shambhushivananda. He’s a volunteer tour guide for the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond Virginia. When tapped, he teaches adjunct English and writing classes at Richard Bland College of William & Mary College. For a decade, he has been teaching literature and music classes for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Richmond, LLI Chesterfield, and The Shepherd’s Center Open University.
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